Im in LOVE...

Have i ever said how much i love dr. bronners castile soap? If you havent tried it you should. Seriously. This stuff is awesome! I have really been trying to cut out chemicals and unescessary things out of our home. We are eating more whole real natural foods but our skin absorbs harmful chemicals too so i wanted to do something about this. I researched natural shampoos soaps cleaners etc... and just because their natural doesnt mean theyre safe. Check them out here at http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ their site is under construction at the moment but it rates products 0-10 ten being the worst. many "natural" products are as high as 6 or 7 and theyre expensive. I want whats best for my family with out going broke. With castile soaps many uses, this really isnt expensive. The price for the size of the bottle may seem like a lot but its not when you consider a little bit really does go a long way because it is extremely concentrated.

Things we use it for
1. A house hold cleaner/disinfectant spray
2. Hand soap
3. Body soap
4. Home made shampoo

All are super easy too.

All purpose natural cleaner is important to me because lets face it kids touch everything they might even lick and they put their hands in their mouths. Do you really want your child liking something that has been cleaned with harsh chemicals? I know i dont.
For an all purpose natural cleaner use a little bit of castile soap which ever scent you like and add water and a little bit of tea tree essential oil(a natural disinfectant)add to a spray bottle and youre ready to clean.

Hand soap: I use an empty foaming soap container that i bought at the store,i bought the cheapest soap i could get and used the soap until it was gone. Then when the bottle was empty i filled it with water and a bit of castile soap. put the cover on an shake and its ready to enjoy.

Body wash: This is about the same as hand wash. I use an empty foaming pump and do everything the same as the hand soap but you can add in a bit of oil such as olive oil or whatever you have for a more moisturizing body wash. I Love this wash. This body wash has done wonders for Carter's ezcema. There are no chemicals or words i cant pronounce going on my childrens body that i dont know the safety of. I even use it for myself too. I consider the foaming pumps a must with this, the pump makes such a soft foamy lather that goes on so smooth. Theres a eucalyptus one which is great for colds, think the smell of vicks. Steam helps with congestion and so does the natural eucalyptus essential oil in the castile soap. Need a more sensitive wash use the baby version.

Last but not least homemade shampoo!
All natural shampoo recipe:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup castile soap
2 tsp oil they recommended avacado oil but i just used olive oil
1/8 tsp tea tree oil
1 tsp glycerin (optional) to thicken the shampoo to a more store bought consistency

Oh and did i mention that tea tree oil helps deter lice. Lice do not like tea tree oil and is great in any shampoo for kids in school.

a bottle not the smallest but the next size up lasts me a LONG time and is absolutely worth it. Buy one or two items and you can make many safe recipes with it. Its easy and doesnt take long, actually it takes less time to make than to drive to the store when i run out of something and have to go pick it up. I also love the convience of having it at my fingertips.

You Are Going To Miss This....Cuddles

You are going to miss this when theyre older, right now its easy to think about the 101 things that you have to do. All the things youre too busy to do... I am not too busy to cuddle my children. Carter loves to cuddle before his naps. Sure i could get another 5-10 minutes of chores in but then I would miss his sweet giggles. Everytime he climbs into my bed for a nap he is grinning ear to ear and giggling. Its pretty obvious that he enjoys this time too. I want my children to remember all the things we did together (even the little things) not that i was too busy keeping a clean house. Our house is pretty clean but what i am getting at is there arent that many things that cant wait. Childhood is not going to get put on hold because we are busy, enjoy this time because you will soon miss this stage. Carter is a very cuddly boy and this time means alot to him and me. My kids are well adjusted kids and can go to sleep with out me, but when we can we are enjoying this ear to ear grin followed by giggles and lots of cuddles. it only takes a few minutes and hes sound asleep :)

Positive Behavior Update

so its been a month or so since we have started the reward system for positive behavior. At first it took a while for them to really get it. brooke thought she could pick out a card any time she wanted. Now that they realize i am the one who chooses when they get the reward and that they get which ever one that they pull out, i have to say its going pretty well. We dont do it all of the time. I need to be more consistent with this. The children do really love these special things that they get to do when positive behavior is recognized. Theyre such simple every day things that dont cost money or involve buying them something. I think that this can really work well for our family. What child doesnt enjoy doing something with their family that is fun and done together? I know my kids sure do! Benefits of this reward system are: 1. more quality time as a family 2. My children have been more eager to "behave" or "do the right thing" 3. A happier household :)

Trying something new... a new way to encourage positive behavior

So anyone that has a little girl will agree that they can be pretty stubborn. Its pretty easy to focus on the negative and reacct to that so we are going to focus on the positive. unacceptable behavior wont be allowed but we will give their positive behavior more attention. We will be doing this with both brooke and carter. When a positive behavior is noticed especially the ones that we want to see more of we will be drawing a card. on that card will have something fun and free to do on it. These things are things that we should be doing anyway with our kids and things that they enjoy. We all know how easy it is to get busy with life and sometimes could really be doing more. So i have made a list of rewards taken index cards cut them in half and written these rewards down.

1. make a book together
2. for a walk
3. play a game
4. do a puzzle together
5. have a pillow fight
6.feed Rusty (the dog)
7. wii kids dance
8. talking tom (my kids love this on my phone and ask to do it all the time)
9.make pudding or jello
10. make an obstacle course
11.playdough
12. cuddle time
13. finger paint
14. bake a treat
15 help make a meal
16 give a horsie ride
17.sleep out in the living room
18.pick out the next meal
19.piggy back ride
20 star gazing at night
21chew gum
22.have a tea party
23. talk on the phone with friend or family memeber
24. color a picture together
25.stay up ten minutes later
26.do the dishes-i know who would think this is a reward, but to young kids this often is who doesnt like playing in the water and i can just stick the dishes in the dish washer when theyre done anyway
27.pancakes for supper
28. star fall
29. make a craft
30.feed the fish
31.Read books together
32. picnic in the house
33.turn on kids music and dance
34.make a macaroni necklace
35. hide and seek

Ok so one thing that i want to say is that all of these rewards will be given to both kids no matter who earned the reward and it will be done together with either mommy or daddy or the both of us. My kids are a blast, really what child isnt but this will be a great behavior reinforcement and it guarantees that we spend a little more qaulity time with our children, how can we go wrong?! I am not using anything that costs money either because i dont want to buy their good behavior some might say a positive reward system is but in the way that we are doing it i dont necessarily agree, yes its motivation, but its good quality time with my children. them wanting to earn these rewards will hopefully lead to more positive behavior and you know what they say you do something long enough and it becomes a habbit. the great thing about this is that the rewards can be easily changed as their interests change. Feel free to use any of our ideas or offer ideas for rewards.

school involvement

I am so fortunate to be able to be a part of my daughters schooling. I love going in to help out at the school. it really does give you a better idea of what is going on. It shows me what she is learning first hand, the way teachers interact with students and other adults and what the other children my daughter spends all of her time with are like. I hope that I can continue to be an active part of my childrens education. I have seen how much she truely is learning. Its just amazing. It goes way beyond the core subjects, theyre teaching them the proper way to handle different situations use their manners and how to get along with others more than i could ever list. There are alot of things she does in school that would be hard for us to reproduce at home. I just wish that there were more time in a day. I feel like by the time she gets home from school theres just not enough time in the day to get everything done. between homework which is very simple, reading lessons that we are doing by choice, baths supper, reading betime stories the day is already gone. I kinda wish kindergarten could be half day like when we were little. she is still so young and a full school day is a very long day for such a young child. Carters excited to start preschool next year which is also something that I will be involved in. Infact, they expect you to be involved, i cant tell you happy this makes me. If they dont let you come into the classroom it really makes me wonder what is going on. Carter wants to be just like his big sis. he was watching us do our reading lesson the other night and now making the ssss sound all around the house. He really is picking stuff up even if hes not sitting for stuff. he was in the room when brooke and i were doing the lesson and really likes the sound, i show him an s and he wont tell me its an s but tells me the sound.

spring update

Spring is here :) So excited for warmer weather, playing outside and sleepy children at the end of the day! Our family is doing great. We have been in our new home a year now, the kids are making friends and things just feel right. Brooke is thriving at school, she absolutely loves learning and school. I have to admit we considered homeschooling and i sometimes still do. That said we have an awesome school that she loves. I know there are a ton of benefits of each and its not going to be a one answer is right for every family. Brooke is eager to learn and picks most things up quickly, and really loves to be around others. She really wants that interaction and I have to say i am not one that always seeks that interaction or know alot of families with children her age that we would spend alot of time with. So for the time being we have decided that public school is the route we are taking right now, not to say that if things were to ever change we wouldnt change our minds about homeschooling. she started preschool this fall the school year is about 3/4 done. she has learned so many things, i have to say some of these things arent things that i thought much about. I have always worked with the kids and learning, but the truth is no matter how much i teach them i am amazed at how much they continue to teach me. We are currently working on learning how to read, we looked at many options back when we were really considering homeschooling and then we were reminded of how to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons when another mom on facebook mentioned it. We have just started this i really like it and brooke is very eager to do it each night as well. I cant believe we are working on reading it seems like i was just teaching her colors and shapes and animal sounds, where did the time go. Shes growing so much and is having fun with ballet and excited to start t-ball. Carter is doing great as well. He had pneumonia this winter which was no fun at all but is doing much better other than dealing with those annoying allergies. He is a very smart little boy but definately a boy, much more active than his sister and not so eager to do "school work" i use that term loosely really just meaning any learning activity. Hes stubborn and wants to do what he chooses. We are working on abc and number recognition its going slowly but i am staying consistent knowing that even though it seems hes not really into it or paying attention he will pick it up, infact im pretty sure he knows more than he lets on. he will show me a d and thats for you, a c and say thats for me and does this with the b and j for jeremy and brooke as well. Today he cut out strips of paper to make paper chains while helping out at the school, i am proud to say that at 2.5 he can cut as well as some of the 4 and 5 year olds at school.

new to blogging

Blogging is completely new to me... i thought that i would start as a way to share and a way of preserving all of our memories. Posts will be on anything that pertains to our family, so expect a ton of post related to children, their development and education. maybe some homemaking and our efforts to cut costs and to be a greener family.